I need Planted Tank help

[AllKindsOfFishIn&Out]

Is this the right forum for this question?
I have decided to try a planted tank. I bought DDA's ADA Amazonia Aqua Soil to do a 20 gal and will surely be asking advice on that one when I get started, but for now - to get a little more experience I also bought his 10 gallon planted setup. It has a little red - I think he said Crystal Shrimp, plus LOTS of little snails and some tiny things that zip around on the bottom that I suspect are water fleas. Now my question -- if these are water fleas, or whatever they are, are they desirable? Is that food for the Shrimp? Should I put more Shrimp in it? If I need to get rid of them, what should I add? I think I should get rid of the snails but I'm thinking probably a Botia would be a little too busy for it. I've seen Assasin Snails mentioned. Would that be better and if so, how big are they and where can I find one? I'll really appreciate some advice from you guys who know so much more about this:o:o

[kleankord]

what type of snails? I keep mts in all my planted tanks, they help aerate the soil.. idk what the water fleas are.

[AllKindsOfFishIn&Out]

I don't know. There may be more than one kind of snail in there. There are a lot. Here are some pics.

One of mostly snails with lots of java moss (?)

One on driftwood with java moss (?) is snails and the little white things are the ?water fleas?

One on almost bare driftwood is ?water fleas?

I know they look like baby snails, but they are really fast!

Note: for size reference, driftwood is only about 1 inch across.

[Trallen44]

I have used the assasians in my planted tanks. Not sure on the water fleas, or if they could be baby shrimp. It is hard to say with not seeing them. You could add more shrimp to the tank, and just have it a planted shrimp tank. As the shrimp reproduce, you can sell them also. You might be able to get the assasin snails here. http://www.invertzfactory.com/stocklist.htm
I know they are down on some of the fish, but they may still have the snails. And they are local for you. I wouldn't put more than 2 in a ten gallon tank. And one would probably be enough. It will just take a bit to get the snails out. You need to make sure what kind of shrimp is in the tank, because some shrimp can cross breed into not good looking shrimp at all.

[Michael Scarn]

The snails in the first pic are pond snails. I am pretty sure assassin snails will eat them. But, I have read that they only eat one snail every few days or so. So, the PS will probably still reproduce faster than the assassins can eat them.

[Daisy]

Tons of snails are a sign of much worse problems. :(

Usually a lot of snails means you are over-feeding. If you cut back on whatever food is supporting their population, they'll die down on their own.

[Dr. Awkward]

I don't know if I'd call tons of snails a sign of a problem. There's nothing wrong with overfeeding if you keep your water quality in check, especially if it's a planted tank. Extra food means extra nutrients for your plants. If you have softer water the snails' shells will gradually melt. It's bad for the snails but good for your plants because many plants can take in carbon from dissolved calcium carbonate in the water column. Snails also keep algae problems in check. Algae can be a big problem for the first few months after you set up a new planted tank. You can always manually remove snails if you think you have too many of them.

One bit of caution on the ADA Amazonia substrate, be prepared to let your tank cycle fishless for 4-6 weeks while the substrate releases ammonia. The ammonia level can get very high. That's great for plants and will give them an extra boost as they get established. Once the tank finishes cycling you can add a decent number of fish right away because you will have an awesome biological filter ready to go.

On the water flea looking bugs, I wouldn't worry too much about them. They won't hurt anything and almost always show up in shrimp-only tanks. People just don't notice them because they're so tiny. The bugs actually help a bit in keeping the water clear because they're filter feeders. They probably won't get any bigger than they are right now and may go away on their own. I don't think the shrimp will eat them but any small fish will.

[AllKindsOfFishIn&Out]

Thanks everybody for all the help. I'll try to be patient.

[RichardB]

do mystery snails eat plants?

[Trallen44]

Here is a site you can check out, if you decide to raise shrimp in this tank. The first article would be helpfull for catching them to sell, and then you can check out the rest of the site to see what you like and learn more.

http://www.planetinverts.com/DIY_Shrimp_Trap.html

[deviltiger]

Here what I'm doing right now and hope can help ya out:
- use a small plate with a sinking Algae Eater chip in it
- wait for at least an hour for snails buffet :D
- bring the whole plate out N should be at least 20-50 snails in there:exactly:
- making sure using the stick to push away all the shrimp + baby

[NursePlaty]

I think I had water fleas too in my old shrimp tank. They were the size of these periods --> "." or a tad bit larger and they swim fast in all sorts of directions. They never harmed my shrimps. I never knew how to get rid of them either

[Sigmar]

Is your drift wood found wood? I noticed the same thing on a piece I'm soaking in a 55 drum

[AndrewH]

What y'll are calling water fleas, I also had.

I have no idea what they actually are (which could definitely be water fleas), but I never observed anything undesirable about them.

And the exact opposite is true. When setting up tanks (of course all mine are planted, so don't know if it still stands true for non-planted tanks) I noticed these little 'water fleas' are present when the cycle is finished and not present before ;). Don't know what that means, but they might be algae eaters, which in turn could be a very important part of the cycle in the tank and overall health of the aquarium.

They may consume the dead nitrate and nitrite bacteria so new can grow in it's place... just a thought, not an observation considering I can only barely see their bodies to say the least of what their mouths are doing :D.

They are small enough to hop on the surface of the water as well (on the water's surface tension). They seem to hang around plants, but mostly driftwood. And they can get out of the aquarium, but damn near impossible to tell where they go from there (could see them hopping over the aquarium's edge, but lost them in the carpet, etc. soon after - I believe their aquarium departure was unintentional).